Tuesday 13 January 2015 21:18, UK
Castleford head coach Daryl Powell admits his team will face a tough task to emulate last season’s success in Super League, but remains hopeful they can perform well in the new format.
Super League XX kicks off in just over three weeks with only 12 teams this year and there will be a split after 23 matches with the top eight teams continuing in Super League and the bottom four joining the top four teams in the Championship in the Qualfiers.
You’d expect that we are not going to go under the radar this year so for us there is a big challenge to be faced. We need to go to another level I think.
Castleford were the surprise packages last season, competing at the top of the table for much of the campaign before finishing in fourth place, just two points behind table-topping St Helens.
The Tigers subsequently lost to Warrington in the play-offs to end a season which also saw them beaten by Leeds in the Challenge Cup final.
Powell told Sky Sports News HQ: “It’s interesting the new structure. We are not sure how it is going to pan out.
“Obviously there are 23 rounds of Super League to see who is in the top eight and which four teams drop into the middle eight so there is a fair bit of jeopardy involved this year for Super League clubs and it’s important that you get off to a good start.
“We were able to do that last year and it’s important that we do so again this. We rattled a few teams early on last year just with the way that we played and the intensity that we had about us.
“You’d expect that we are not going to go under the radar this year so for us there is a big challenge to be faced. We need to go to another level I think.
“We’ve got eight new players so it’s going to be interesting right at the start how they go. I’m confident in what we’ve got. The group will need to deliver some outstanding performances on the field as our start is a really tough one.
“In terms of top eight I think that’s minimum standard and I didn’t hide away from that last year. I think that’s where we wanted to be – we finished fourth and that was a fantastic achievement for us – and for us it is about doing it again.
“We have got to put last season behind us and go again, be really tough and aggressive and hopefully we can play in the same sort of style as last year. And we are going to need to.
“The competition being narrowed by two teams makes it really tough this year so it is going to be a big challenge for us.”
Daryl Clark, last year's Man of Steel, has left Castleford for Warrington but Powell is confident the Tigers can overcome the loss of the England hooker.
Adam Milner, who has spent five years trying to establish himself with the club, has retained the No 9 jersey and Powell has brought in experienced hooker Scott Moore from London Broncos.
"I think we'll be okay. We've got two pretty good hookers," said Powell.
"They have big shoes to fill but they're very much capable of doing it, albeit in a slightly different way.
"Sometimes you have to play slightly different. We did that when Rangi (Chase) went and we'll do it again and hopefully we can get the best out of everybody that we've got on board."
